


blood is thicker

by saiditallbefore



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: (Committed by OC), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Family, Force Ghosts, Gen, Rey Palpatine, mentions of animal harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:49:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15863040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/pseuds/saiditallbefore
Summary: Other people couldn’t see Rey’s grandfather, because he was a ghost.  That was okay, though— she’d never needed other people anyway.She’d never needed anyone but her family.





	blood is thicker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chrysaora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrysaora/gifts).



The other scavengers had left Rey behind at the ship they’d been mining for parts. She was too small, too useless to worry about, and everyone had forgotten her when they’d returned to Niima Station for their portions.

No one wanted her around. Even her parents hadn’t wanted her.

Rey buried her face in her arms and cried.

When she’d cried herself out, she was suddenly aware of another presence beside her.

"My dear," he said. "Why do you worry yourself over _them_?"

Rey looked up at him. He appeared to be a human male, but he couldn’t be from Jakku. He looked too clean. His robes didn’t even have a little bit of sand on them, and his white hair was neatly in place, not tangled and windblown like Rey’s own.

"Where did you come from?" she asked. She was certain this man hadn’t been there earlier.

He smiled. "I’m your grandfather, Rey." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "And if you can see me, that means that you are a very special girl indeed."

* * *

Other people couldn’t see Rey’s grandfather, because he was a ghost. That was okay, though— she’d never needed other people anyway.

She’d never needed anyone but her family.

It was Grandfather who’d convinced Rey to leave Jakku and find a more "civilized" place to live. But it was Rey who found a ship for them and rewired it to get it flying again.

In the end, they went to Theed, the capital city of Naboo.

"I spent my youth here," Grandfather explained.

Rey stared. It was hard to imagine Grandfather ever being young.

"I can’t say I have fond memories, but it is certainly more tolerable than where we were living before."

Grandfather was right about one thing— Naboo was nothing like Jakku. The people dressed in clean, brightly-colored clothes, and the population was mainly split between humans and the amphibian Gungans.

And best of all, there was water everywhere. There were public fountains filled with water in the city squares, just for people to look at! Grandfather said the entire core of the planet was made of water, but Rey found that hard to believe.

They lived in a little flat in the lower quarter, and Grandfather taught Rey how to convince the landlady that she lived with a (visible) guardian who always paid their rent.

Old Marjja was a wrinkled little lady who dressed almost entirely in layers and layers of lace, dyed in bright colors. Rey thought her clothes were pretty, but Grandfather had sniffed and said that lace like that was only supposed to be for weddings and Marjja was ridiculous.

But Old Marjja owned a building full of flats, and Grandfather had wrinkled his nose but pronounced them passable. (Rey thought they seemed impossibly luxurious, but Grandfather had told her that she wasn’t allowed to have an opinion until she saw what _true_ luxury was.)

"You’re going to need to practice, first," Grandfather told her. He made her sit down on the edge of a park, breathing deeply like she was meditating. She reached into the Force and watched the other children who ran across the park. They were all connected to the Force, but none of them were like her. None of them shone as brightly as she did.

One of the children ran over to her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Rey hesitated, and glanced at her grandfather. He nodded at her.

She waved her hand through the air, focusing intently on the boy’s presence in the Force. "There’s nobody here," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "You’re right—"

Rey wrinkled up her nose and concentrated harder. " _There’s nobody here._ "

The boy blinked. "There’s nobody here," he repeated, before turning and running back to his friends.

Grandfather smiled at Rey, and laid his ghostly hand on her shoulder. "I think it’s time to talk to Marjja."

Rey traipsed over to Old Marjja’s flat, a stuffy little place that only held one interest for Rey: Marjja’s pet rock lizard, which she was more than willing to let small children play with. 

"Hello, Rey," Marjja said in a kindly patronizing tone that made Rey want to roll her eyes. "Is your guardian here today?"

Rey stared at Marjja, trying to see her presence in the Force. She was momentarily distracted— she could see Marjja’s rock lizard in the Force too! But she quickly focused again. "My guardian is right here," she said, waving her hand in front of Marjja.

"Your guardian is right here," Marjja repeated.

"And he’s already paid you rent for a full year," Rey said.

"And he’s already paid me rent for a full year," Marjja repeated.

Rey grinned, petted the rock lizard one more time, and left Marjja’s flat.

"Most people are so simple," Grandfather said, once they were ensconced in their flat. " They aren’t like you or me. All they can see is what’s right in front of them."

Rey nodded. "That’s why they can’t see you, right?"

Grandfather smiled. "Correct, my dear." Rey beamed at his praise. "But it’s more than that," he continued. "In time, you will be able to harness and control the Force, to bend others to your will as you wish."

Rey furrowed her brow. "Like we did with Old Marjja?"

"Exactly. And when you have learned all I have to teach you, no one will be able to leave you behind ever again."

* * *

The first time Rey saw a picture of her grandfather, it was Remembrance Day. 

She didn’t know it was Remembrance Day at the time. No one had ever celebrated it on Jakku. No one had ever celebrated anything on Jakku. She’d just heard something going on in the square outside and had gone outside to find out what it was.

A woman, dressed in red, with her face all painted up like the queen’s, stood at a podium. There was a huge crowd surrounding her, all carrying candles and they watched the woman with somber looks on their faces.

The woman talked about people and places Rey had never heard of: Alderaan, and Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, and Endor, and Padme Amidala, and Scarif, and Han Solo and Lando Calrissian...

There was a holoscreen behind the woman, and images played on it as the woman talked: space battles and explosions and smiling young men with medals around their necks.

And then, the woman talked about Luke Skywalker, who killed the Emperor. There were two faces on the holoscreen then, and Rey knew one of them. He was older looking there than she was used to. Older than he appeared as a ghost.

The other picture onscreen was of a smiling young man with tousled blond hair. Luke Skywalker, the man who’d killed Rey’s grandfather.

She hated him.

* * *

Rey crouched in an alley, waiting for her mark to walk by. No one paid her any mind— even in the lower quarter, there was little crime in Theed.

Grandfather, of course, didn’t bother to hide at all.

Finally, Jans walked by. 

Rey narrowed her eyes. 

Technically, no one knew who had killed Old Marjja’s rock lizard. She knew some people suspected her— she was odd, and kept to herself, and didn’t really like people. She didn’t bother with going to school or playing outside or doing any of the other things children were supposed to do.

But she didn’t hurt _animals_. 

Luckily, she knew who had.

Jans laughed at something one of his friends said, and Rey reached out a hand and concentrated the way Grandfather had taught her to. She _reached_ for Jans’s energy— a dim little pinprick in the Force, barely even there— and squeezed.

In the street, Jans gasped for breath and reached for his throat. Onlookers screamed and cried and tried to help him, but none of them were special like Rey. They didn’t understand about the Force. There was nothing they could do.

"Very good," Grandfather murmured.

Rey gritted her teeth. She looked at Jans, gasping for breath. Then, she thought about old Merya’s pet rock lizard, found cut into pieces.

She squeezed harder.

* * *

"Why do I even need a lightsaber?" Rey asked. "You never bothered with one."

"Don’t be ridiculous," Grandfather said. "It took me years before I was capable of combat without a lightsaber."

Rey huffed. "Can’t you just teach me, though?"

"You must learn to walk before you can run. Don’t get ahead of yourself."

Rey rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure Grandfather just started in on that cryptic nonsense when he didn’t have any real answers for her.

It wasn’t like she really had anything better to do, but the idea of haring off across half the galaxy in search of either a lightsaber or a kyber crystal wasn’t particularly appealing to her.

Grandfather seemed to read her mind as always. "Are you going to stay here forever, Rey? You have more power than anyone in the galaxy could _dream_ of. You must start somewhere. You’re going to be an adult soon— you could become a member of the Galactic Senate or a queen or a general or—"

"I’m not going to be a senator," Rey said resolutely. "I’m not going into politics, Grandfather." This was an old argument, and one that would probably continue until Rey was as ghostly as her grandfather was.

Grandfather frowned, but let the argument lie for the moment. "Regardless. A lightsaber is important."

* * *

Rey convinced someone to give her a ship, and she took off, Grandfather accompanying her as always. It took some time— the few remaining Old Republic lightsabers were highly collectible, in this new era, and kyber crystals had always been difficult to find. Grandfather probably knew of a place kyber crystals could be found, but he hadn’t told Rey. He maintained that it would be more effective to find an already-extant lightsaber.

Rey was following on a likely rumor— a lightsaber that had been stolen from the ruins of the new Jedi Academy some years back. It had been passed around the black market, and was currently in the hands of pirates.

Knowing that this lightsaber had belonged to one of Skywalker’s students— gave Rey a certain perverse pleasure. How angry would he be, knowing that his dead student’s weapon— one that Skywalker might have helped build himself— had fallen into Rey’s hands?

Of course, it had to fall into her hands, first.

That was what had brought her here, to the Outer Rim. From the darkness, she watched the pirates set up camp. And when they finally fell asleep, she crept closer, past the single pirate on watch. With the Force wrapped around her like a cloak, she was nearly invisible.

She slipped into the ship and riffled through everywhere that seemed like it might be hiding a lightsaber. Finally, in one cabin, she found it. As soon as she picked it up, she understood why her grandfather had wanted her to find a lightsaber so badly. It simply felt right in her hand.

Rey’s curiosity got the best of her, and she couldn’t help herself— she turned it on. She was immediately bathed in a pale yellow light.

"Perfect," she murmured. She turned it off, and hooked the lightsaber on her hip.

Rey returned to her ship, where Grandfather was waiting for her. But she hesitated— there was another presence there, too. 

"I know you’re there," a man’s voice called.

Rey placed a single hand on her lightsaber and approached with her head held high. "Who are you?"

The man moved out of the shadow of her ship. His face was obscured by a cloak. "I think I should be asking you that. I can’t imagine the ghost of the Emperor would attach himself to many people."

In the corner of her eye, Rey could see Grandfather. He looked amused.

Rey cocked her head, and looked at the man. "You can see him, can’t you?" She didn’t wait for him to answer. "You’re special, like we are."

"Not like we are," Grandfather said. Rey was about to ask him what he meant— she didn’t know there were more than two kinds of people in the world: special, and not special— but the strange man interrupted.

"She doesn’t— you don’t have to be like him," he said. "You can be whatever you want to be."

"I know," Rey said, irritated at the stranger showing up and giving her life advice when she wanted to talk to Grandfather about how to practice using her new lightsaber. "That’s why I’m not going into the Senate."

The man stepped closer, and Rey tightened her hand on her lightsaber. 

He pushed his hood back.

She knew his face. He was older now. No longer smiling or carefree, and his hair had gone gray and wild, but he was undoubtedly the same person.

"Skywalker," she whispered.

He held up his hands, well away from the lightsaber hanging at his hip. "You know me, then."

"She knows you killed me," Grandfather added.

"I didn’t kill you," Skywalker said, sounding wearier than ever. "I didn’t kill him." He closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you have a name?" he asked Rey. 

"Rey," she said. For the second time in her life, she switched her lightsaber on. "Rey Palpatine."

Grandfather laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on tumblr!](http://saiditallbefore.tumblr.com/post/178154265943/blood-is-thicker-saiditallbefore-star-wars)


End file.
